For the Sake of Family
by thunderbolt-sunshine
Summary: A case in which NCIS agents and their families are being targeted and killed forces Tony to introduce the family he's been hiding. His wife and mother-in-law find Gibbs shockingly familiar. (Tony knows that Gibbs lost a wife and daughter years ago but he doesn't know their names)
1. Chapter 1

Gibbs and the other leaders of the DC based teams stalked across the mezzanine and down back into the bullpen in a rage. They'd just had a meeting with the director and the news was not good.

"God dammit!" he yelled, seizing a paperweight off his desk and throwing it against the wall.

He vaguely registered the other, equally pissed off team leaders taking similar actions across the floor. They all felt like failures. For the past two weeks all four MCRT teams had been working on the same case, involving an utter _bastard _who was targeting NCIS agents and their families. At a rate of about one every three nights and NCIS agent and their family were being attacked while they slept in their beds. So far all the agents and most of their families were dead. A few of the agents' loved ones were clinging to life in Bethesda but their outlooks were not good and unfortunately NCIS was no closer to solving the case than they had been after the first agent was attacked two weeks ago.

Tony, Ziva and McGee looked down at their desks. They knew without asking what the reasoning was behind Gibbs' temper. Another agent had been attacked. "Who, boss?" Tony asked softly.

"Parker, from ballistics," Gibbs said angrily. "He and his 15 year old daughter are dead. His wife, 12 year old son and nine year old daughter all admitted to Bethesda in critical condition. The wife isn't expected to last the day."

"Dammit," Tony swore. He knew Parker. He was a good man who had helped the MCRT out on cases many times.

"Now what, boss?" McGee asked.

"Vance has issued an order that all agents with families bring them here to the Yard to go into protective custody," Gibbs said. "Seeing as none of us have families we get back to work. We find this bastard so I can rip him apart."

Tony cringed. He knew that he had no choice now. He'd been walking a tightrope with NCIS ever since he'd joined the agency. More than once over the years he'd wondered if the time had come where he would be forced to reveal his secret. He'd been having similar thoughts for the past two weeks and now he knew there was no other option. This so was not going to be good. Tony had told himself for years that if Gibbs ever found out his secret the marine would understand why his SFA had had to lie but in this situation Tony knew it was wishful thinking.

Gibbs always took cases involving dead children extra hard so his temper had been on a hair trigger since this entire mess began and he wasn't going to take the news that he barely knew his SFA well. Tony couldn't care less what Ziva or McGee thought but over the years he's grown to consider Gibbs family and he just hoped that his relationship with his boss survived.

He quickly stood up from his desk and grabbed his jacket. Gibbs glared at him. "Going somewhere, DiNozzo?" he asked angrily.

"Yes," Tony said firmly. "I'm going to get my family."

Without waiting for a reaction or reply Tony raced downstairs to his car and drove like a madman towards his home in Georgetown. He knew time was of the essence now. If Vance was bringing all the families in then the threat level was obviously being raised. As he drove he tried desperately to call his home on his hands-free set. Finally his wife answered. "Hello?"

"Hey beautiful," Tony answered, relief colouring his tone. "I don't have time to answer questions now but I need you, your mom and Katie to each pack a bag for a couple of days. If you can pack something for me as well that would be great. I'm on my way to get you now."

"Why?" his wife asked, sounding frightened. "Have you heard from….."

"No," Tony said brusquely. "This is because of NCIS. Every agent's families are being brought in. Listen, beautiful. I'll see you in a few, okay?"

"Okay," his wife replied. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Tony said, ending the call.

He hadn't told his wife or his mother-in-law anything about the case, figuring that they both had enough to worry about. He'd been part of their lives long enough for them to recognise that he was working a tougher case than usual but they knew not to ask questions and he hadn't offered them any details. Now, though Tony wondered if that had been a mistake. If their lives were going to be uprooted because of his job and their very lives put in danger they deserved to know the truth. Still, it was too late to go back now, though.

A few minutes later he pulled into his driveway and hurried into the house. Katie met him in the hallway. "Daddy!" she squealed, leaping into his arms. "Mommy says we're going on a trip and I don't have to go to preschool."

"That's right, princess," Tony said, dropping a kiss onto the three year old's head.

"Yeah!" Katie cheered. "This is going to be the coolest fun ever!"

Tony didn't bother correcting his daughter's assumption that this was a vacation. Seeing as she was going to get to see where he worked for the first time she probably would consider it a treat. He just wished he could view the world with the same childlike innocence and that his wife and mother-in-law could do the same. Unfortunately he could not be so lucky.

His mother-in-law met him at the bottom of the stairs. She had packed for herself and Katie. "Tony, what the hell's going on?"

"Princess, why don't you quickly run and get Lulu so we can take her on our trip with us?" Tony suggested to Katie, wanting her out of earshot.

As Katie ran off his wife also came downstairs with their bags. Conscious of her expanding mid-section Tony quickly took them from her. "I'm sorry about this," he said. "But you know we can't take any chances at the best of times and the fourth NCIS agent and his family in two weeks have just been killed. I don't think there's any option but to let NCIS find out now."

"Yes, yes of course you're right," his mother-in-law said. "It will be alright."

"What are we going to do?" his wife asked.

"Well considering my boss doesn't exactly know I've got a family he didn't give out any specifics when he told us the director's given the order for all agents to have their families brought in for safety reasons but I imagine that once we get to the yard various options for protective custody will be discussed. Whether that'll be just you three or whether I'll be going with you I don't know." Tony felt horribly guilty when he saw his wife's face. He was all too conscious of the fact that her first pregnancy had been a nightmare thanks to him getting the plague not long after they found out they were expecting Katie. Now it could all be happening again. He kissed her softly. "It'll be okay. I promise."

"I know," she said, obviously trying to convince herself as much as him. "Let's just go."

Katie came racing back, clutching the rag doll that she never went anywhere without, and Tony returned to the Navy Yard with his family. As they went upstairs in the lift Tony scooped his daughter, who was looking around curiously, into his arms. She had his green eyes but otherwise was all red hair and dimples like her mother and grandmother. He loved her more than life itself and needed her close right now. He also figured that if he emerged from the lift holding an innocent child Gibbs wouldn't try and kill him right away.

"So this is where you work, daddy?" Katie asked loudly as the lift doors opened.

"Sure is, princess," Tony said.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his team watching his interaction with his family in slack-jawed amazement. Gibbs hurried over to them. "Something you forgot to mention, DiNozzo?" he asked gruffly, obviously reigning in his temper because of Katie's presence.

Before he could formulate an answer that might not get his head snapped off Tony heard his mother-in-law gasp. He turned around, Katie still in his arms, to see his wife's mother staring at Gibbs in stunned disbelief. Tears filled her eyes.

"Jethro?" she cried. "Is that really you?"


	2. Chapter 2

Tony's wife didn't seem to be in a much better condition than her mother. For a brief moment she was confused by her mother's reaction but the moment "Jethro" passed her mother's lips she understood. Tears filled her piercing blue eyes. "Daddy?"

"Oh my god," Gibbs gasped, staggering backwards. "Shan? Kelly?"

"Oh holy shit," Tony mumbled, looking between Gibbs and his wife. Luckily Ziva and McGee had hurried over not far behind Gibbs. He quickly handed Katie to McGee. "Princess, this is Agent McGee and Officer David. I need you to stay with them for a little while. I'm sure if you ask them nicely they'll find you some paper so you can draw me a picture for my desk."

"Okay, but where are you going, daddy?" Katie asked sweetly.

"Mommy, Grandma and I just need to have a quick talk with Agent Gibbs, here," Tony said, wrapping an arm around Kelly and motioning to Shannon and Gibbs who were still staring at each other in shock. "We'll be back soon. Come on, conference room now."

Rather than the lift, which was Gibbs' usual conference room, Tony guided his family to the actual conference room. With so many NCIS families arriving at the Yard it wouldn't be a good idea to have the lifts tied up right now and more importantly Tony realised that once Gibbs reached the conclusion he just had his reaction was going to be explosive and it wouldn't be a good idea for him to have it in an enclosed space like the lift.

"I don't understand how this is possible," Shannon said, as Tony shut the door behind him. She was still clutching at Gibbs' arm. "Jethro, I thought you were dead! They told me you were dead!"

"Obviously someone lied," Gibbs growled, his shock beginning to wear off. "DiNozzo, did you know about this?"

Tony knew immediately that Gibbs was asking if he'd known all along that his wife and mother-in-law were the wife and daughter Gibbs had believed was dead. "Of course I didn't know," he spat, offended. "I would have told you straight away if I had." Seeing as he was the one familiar with both sides of the story he knew that it was up to him to figure it out. "Johnson," he said. "It's got to be Johnson."

"Who the hell is Johnson?" Gibbs growled.

"Our witness protection handler," Kelly said, as Tony helped her into a chair. "Tony, I know you don't like him but would he really do this? What possible reason could he have for lying about daddy being alive?"

Tony shook his head. "It makes sense, beautiful," he said gently. "Think about it. After the crash your mom was in the coma and not expected to survive. That left you as the only witness and someone needed to testify. There's no way Gibbs would have let you testify and anyone with an ounce of common sense would have known that so they needed to get you away from him. Telling you he was dead and him you were dead seems like a pretty effective way to do that. Unfortunately for them Shannie came out of the coma and testified in your place but by that stage it was too late for them to go back on the lie. Gibbs could have and would have protected you guys from anyone who came after you in retaliation but he also would have murdered whoever lied to him about his family being dead. Johnson's a spineless worm. He wouldn't have wanted to risk facing a homicidal marine."

"I can't believe this," Shannon sighed, sinking into a chair next to her daughter. "Oh Jethro. I'm so sorry!"

"Not your fault, Shan," Gibbs said. He looked over at Tony. "You really think the handler's responsible?"

"It's got to be him. The only other alternative is Mike Franks and I can't see him betraying you so badly. Johnson, on the other hand, think of an older, greasier, slimier, more disgusting version of Sacks," Tony said, sneering as the name of the FBI agent he hated passed his lips. "And you have a pretty good idea of what he's like. God, I knew he was a moron from the moment I met him. I never thought he'd go this far, though."

"What do we do?" Kelly cried.

Gibbs went and crouched down in front of his daughter. "You three, baby, do nothing. I will deal with this Johnson person." He took both his daughter's hands in his, scarcely able to believe that he was able to hold her again. While Shannon's 'death' had been horrible Kelly's had been a million times worse and he was both furious and devastated to know that the pain he'd endured for over 20 years had all been for nothing. He gestured to his daughter's obviously pregnant stomach. "God, baby, I can't believe you're…..how far along are you?"

"Just past 20 weeks," Kelly told him. "And Katie's three-and-a-half."

"Katie?" Gibbs asked.

"Caitlyn Faith DiNozzo," Tony said. "She was born a couple of months after Kate died so we decided to name the baby after her."

"Kate knew about Shan and Kelly?" Gibbs asked, a flicker of hurt and anger in his eyes.

For the first time Tony realised that his wife's eyes, which he'd always loved, had been inherited from her father. He couldn't decide whether the thought was amusing or creepy. "She didn't find out until I was in hospital with the plague. Seeing as she stayed with me the whole time I didn't have a choice but to tell her. Obviously, seeing as she was pregnant at the time, Kelly couldn't visit but Shannie came and sat with me during the night, when all of you were gone, and Kate set it up so Kelly and I could talk on the phone. Boss, you understand why I couldn't tell you, right?"

"Jethro, please don't blame Tony for any of this," Shannon interjected. "He was 18 when he stumbled across the fact Kelly and I were in witness protection. We'd known him for five years by that stage so I said I'd tell him everything so long as he promised to never ask our real names. And secrecy became even more important after he went into law enforcement. On one hand it gave him the skills to protect us whenever any of the dealer's friends came after us but on the other hand witness protection officials have told us that there is a spy somewhere in law enforcement so Tony always had to be extra careful to keep our secret."

"So that's why you flirt with everything that moves?" Gibbs asked sharply.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I may talk the talk but when have you ever seen me follow through with anything? As far as I'm concerned it's just another layer of protection for the girls. After all, who would ever suspect that immature, womanizing Tony DiNozzo goes home to his wife, daughter and mother-in-law every night instead of going out on the town?"

"That was my idea, daddy," Kelly said. "I know Tony's completely faithful to me."

"Fine," Gibbs huffed. He looked at Tony. "So you've known the girls since you were what….13?"

Tony nodded. "Shannie was the nurse at military school. I was injured a lot so I got to know her real well and when I was the only one in the school who didn't have anywhere to go during the Christmas break she took me home with her and I met Kelly. We've never really been apart since. God Gibbs, I can't believe that you're my father-in-law!"

"Oh god," Gibbs said. "I didn't think of this."

"Vance will have a field day with this," Tony said glumly. "If he's going to banish me to the middle of nowhere as agent afloat again can you at least try and make him wait until after the baby's born."

"If Vance tries anything like that he'll regret it," Gibbs snarled, realising that for all those months Tony had been away as agent afloat not only had he been missing his friend and Senior Field Agent, Shan, Kelly and Katie had been missing their son-in-law, husband, father and protector. He knew how good Tony's instincts were so if he said that the girls' handler was useless Gibbs believed him. The ex-marine shuddered to think what could have happened if Shannon and Kelly had been targeted while Tony was away. "You're not going anywhere, DiNozzo."

"Thanks boss," he grinned. "You know I'm quite looking forward to watching you tear Johnson apart and I imagine you're eagerly anticipating tearing him apart. What say we go catch the bastard trying to destroy NCIS so we can get on that?"

Gibbs smirked ferally. "Excellent idea, DiNozzo."


End file.
